Sword-Sharpened Addison Joins D4 Elite
February 14, 2020
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
Jenica Sword would like nothing more than to finish her high school competitive cheer career with an MHSAA Finals championship.
If she does, she’ll probably have to defeat her grandmother.
“We have a friendly competition,” said the Addison senior. “But we definitely want to beat each other.”
Here’s the situation: Jenica competes in competitive cheer for Addison Community Schools, located just off US-127 only a few miles from the Ohio state line and in the heart of the Irish Hills area. Her mother, Jessica Sword, is the Panthers’ head coach and has been since Jenica was in kindergarten at Addison.
Jessica’s mother is Kelly Bailey, who has been the head coach of the Hudson competitive cheer team since Jessica was a high school senior there in the late 1990s.
Hudson’s not just any competitive cheer program. It’s one of the most successful in state history. In fact, Bailey has led Hudson to the Finals for 19 consecutive seasons, her team finishing runner-up in Class C-D in 2006 and in Division 4 in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2017 before winning the title in 2018. The Tigers were back on the podium last year, finishing second behind champion Pewamo-Westphalia.
Hudson and Addison not only are both in Division 4, they are located just 10 miles apart and compete in the same MHSAA District and Regional. When the postseason begins next week, Hudson and Addison will be among the favorites at the Feb. 21 District at Vandercook Lake.
Needless to say, cheer has some deep family roots. Bailey was a sideline cheerleader in high school at Onsted, during the era before the MHSAA created competitive cheer as a sponsored tournament sport. Onsted won a statewide competition her senior year.
When her daughters were young, she got them into cheerleading.
“I cheered all the way through school,” said Sword. “I guess it goes back to Pop Warner football days. I was a cheerleader then. My mom became our coach when I was a senior in high school. As soon as I graduated, I coached middle school and the JV at Hudson. I was an assistant with my mom for seven years.
“Cheerleading is very ingrained in our family, that’s for sure.”
When Sword’s daughter started school at Addison, Sword got a teaching job at the school and was named the varsity head coach for the Panthers. One of her first objectives was to start a youth cheerleading program. Her daughter and six other members of the current Addison Panthers team were in kindergarten that year.
“They didn’t have a program at the time,” Sword said. “I began right away to implement lots of different things, like camps and performances. The girls would go out and cheer at halftime of basketball games. I wanted to build the program up from the bottom.”
While it was a work in progress then, Addison has put together a strong program. Two years ago – the year Hudson won Division 4 – the Panthers also made it to the Grand Rapids Delta Plex for the Finals, finishing sixth overall in their first-ever trip to the season’s final competition. Last February, Addison placed fifth in the Regional at Mason, just 14 points from qualifying for the Finals. Hudson was the Regional champ.
“The girls were extremely disappointed,” Sword said. “I had one of the older girls say to the team this year that she doesn’t want this year’s freshmen to ever experience that disappointment.
“These girls this year have really strong personalities, and my seniors are great leaders. They were very disappointed. A week after the season ended, they were ready to get back in there and start working.”
The Panthers have come out firing this winter, finishing first at their own invitational plus events hosted by Homer and Michigan Center. This week, Addison won the Cascades Conference championship. It was the school’s first-ever conference title in competitive cheer.
That was no easy task. To accomplish it, Addison had to dethrone Michigan Center, another traditional powerhouse in the sport.
“Michigan Center is a dynasty,” Sword said. “They’ve won every conference championship since 2006. To take that away from them was a big deal.”
The Panthers are an experienced group. Of 20 athletes on the current squad, 11 are juniors and seniors.
“They just work hard,” Sword said. “I tell them every day how talented they are, but hard work can sometimes beat talent. You’ve got to put the work in, too. This group gets it. Mentally, they come in every day and want to work hard. They want to lift and just get better. They are very focused. I can officially say this is the best group we’ve ever had at Addison.”
One of the secrets to this team’s success is the closeness among the athletes and their coach. Sword, now a professor at Adrian College, has been working with most of them since they were in grade school.
“It’s a huge part of the dynamic,” she said. “I think of these girls as my own. I’ve been a part of their lives growing up. I think they see me as a second mom as well.”
Another dynamic, of course, is the competition – Hudson.
“It can be hard,” Sword said of going up against her mother. “We don’t talk much during a meet when we compete against each other. There have been times where I want to talk to her about something but then it’s like, ‘Oh, wait, my mom is my competition.’
“She does give me some feedback. And, I always appreciate what she has to say. She knows her stuff.”
Having Jenica compete for Addison adds another dynamic to it all. The senior said she’s grown used to seeing her grandmother on the other side of the gym. No matter who the competition is, Jenica said, she and the rest of the Panthers are determined to finish strong.
“We’ve worked so hard for this. Everyone wants it,” she said. “We are all very close, like best friends. It’s much easier to lead your team when you are friends than if you are enemies.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Addison seniors Christina Bailey, Bree Lampe, Abigail Zacharias, Chloe Leonard, Jenica Sword, Christin Conley and Morgan Fletcher. (Middle) The Panthers on Tuesday locked up their first Cascades Conference championship. (Photos courtesy of the Addison competitive cheer program.)
D3 Preview: Contenders Growing as Richmond Hopes to Reign Again
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 4, 2022
Paw Paw last year became the first team since 2014 to break into the top two at the Division 3 Competitive Cheer Finals that had been occupied in recent seasons solely by Richmond and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep.
Richmond will be seeking its fourth consecutive championship Saturday at Grand Rapids’ Delta Plex. And we’ll see if Notre Dame Prep and Paw Paw are both able to make a strong push again, or if another new team might join the mix.
Division 3 competition begins at 3 p.m. Saturday. Tickets cost $10 and may be bought at the Delta Plex, and all four Finals will be broadcast live on MHSAA.tv and viewable with a subscription. More information, including the spectator seating chart, is posted at MHSAA.com.
Below is a look at all eight finalists:
CROSWELL-LEXINGTON
League finish: Second in Blue Water Area Conference.
Coach: Katie Tomlinson, seventh season
Championship history: Seeking first top-two Finals finish.
Top score: 772.38 at Regional.
Team composition: 24 total (five seniors, six juniors, seven sophomores, six freshmen).
Outlook: Croswell-Lexington has finished fourth and fifth the last two seasons, and its top score this season is five points higher than heading into the Finals a year ago – and landed the Pioneers a third place at their Regional after they came in fourth at their District. Senior Ashley Peyerk made the all-state first team last season, and senior Taylor Johnson and sophomore Shelby Oliver made the second team.
HOWARD CITY TRI COUNTY
League finish: First in Central State Activities Association
Coach: Jennifer Laskey, 15th season
Championship history: Seeking first top-two Finals finish.
Top score: 747.96 at District.
Team composition: 24 total (five seniors, five juniors, four sophomores, 10 freshmen).
Outlook: Tri County is returning to the Finals after most recently finishing seventh in 2019. The Vikings opened this season with seven straight victories and eight over their first nine competitions, and their three highest scores have come over their last three events. Tri County did not compete during the postseason in 2021, but senior Vegas Hojnacki and junior Madalynn Laskey earned all-Regional recognition in 2020.
LAKE ODESSA LAKEWOOD
League finish: First in Greater Lansing Activities Conference
Coach: Kim Martin, 30th season
Championship history: Seeking first top-two Finals finish.
Top score: 757.5 at District
Team composition: 25 total (six seniors, five juniors, six sophomores, eight freshmen).
Outlook: Lakewood is returning to the Finals for the first time since placing fifth in 2018. The Vikings won their first seven competitions this season and came in second at their District, and they’ve twice surpassed 754 points. Lakewood also didn’t compete during the 2021 postseason, but seniors Hokulani Kaalakea and Elizabeth Minard both earned all-District recognition in 2020.
MONROE JEFFERSON
League finish: Second in Huron League
Coach: Sara Griffin, 15th season
Championship history: Seeking first top-two Finals finish.
Top score: 770.72 at Regional
Team composition: 18 total (eight seniors, three juniors, four sophomores, three freshmen).
Outlook: Jefferson is back at the Finals for the first time since finishing third place back-to-back in 2018 and 2019. The Bears finished sixth at their Regional last season but bounced back to qualify fourth last weekend. Senior Brianna Buchanan earned all-Regional recognition in 2021.
PAW PAW
League finish: First in Wolverine Conference.
Coach: Stefanie Miller, 13th season
Championship history: Division 3 runner-up in 2021.
Top score: 783.56.
Team composition: 20 total (nine seniors, three juniors, five sophomores, three freshmen).
Outlook: Paw Paw broke into the top two last season for the first time, finishing second after coming in third in 2020. The Red Wolves have continued to surge, winning both their District and Regional over the last two weekends and posting scores of 772 or higher five times with their top score this season four points higher than a year ago heading into the Finals. A number of last year’s top athletes are leading the way again – seniors Paige Miller and Alexis Sunlin made the all-state first team last season, while seniors Rylee Goldberg and Molly Goodwin and sophomore Maya Leonard made the second team.
PONTIAC NOTRE DAME PREP
League finish: Does not compete in a league.
Coach: Beth Lockhart, 10th season
Championship history: Five MHSAA titles (most recent 2018), three runner-up finishes.
Top score: 784.84 at District.
Team composition: 18 total (five seniors, one junior, three sophomores, nine freshmen).
Outlook: The Fighting Irish finished third last season after eight straight top-two finishes in Division 3, and they’ll be in the mix again after finishing second to Richmond at their District and Regional. Notre Dame Prep hasn’t finished lower than second in a competition this season and has broken 780 points twice and 771 three more times. Seniors Grace Byrne and Riley Lumm made the all-state first team last season, with senior Isabella Lulaj making the second and sophomore Alaina Byrne earning honorable mention.
PORTLAND
League finish: First in Capital Area Activities Conference White
Coach: Mindy Blaschka, ninth season
Championship history: Seeking first top-two Finals finish.
Top score: 770.78.
Team composition: 19 total (six seniors, three juniors, nine sophomores, one freshman).
Outlook: The Raiders have advanced to the Finals for the first time after winning their fourth-straight league and second-straight District titles. Portland also was runner-up at its Regional and has scored 762 or higher its last three competitions. Seniors Catherine Svanda, Avery Brennan and Adrienne Hinds and junior Lily Buckland made the all-District first team last season.
RICHMOND
League finish: First in Blue Water Area Conference.
Coach: Kelli Matthes, 14th season
Championship history: Five MHSAA titles (most recent 2021), five runner-up finishes.
Top score: 789.78 at District.
Team composition: 26 total (eight seniors, six juniors, three sophomores, nine freshmen).
Outlook: Richmond has won three straight Division 3 titles and enters with a top score eight points higher than their best heading into last season’s Finals. The Blue Devils have won all of their competitions this season and scored 783 or higher in six including 786 to win their District and Regional. Ten of the team’s 12 all-staters are back. Seniors Makenna Parker, Hannah Jeroue, Savanna Krywy, Ava Moskwa and Gracie Ellis all made the first team last season, while senior Eryn Hart and juniors Ella Allen and Nicole Ostaszewski made the second team and junior Esther Lopiccolo and sophomore Annabell Loftis earned honorable mentions.
PHOTO Richmond competes during last year’s Round 3 at Breslin Center. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)